Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) Shares Acquired by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 20,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. 79.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ES shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Eversource Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 21st. Scotiabank downgraded Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.42.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ES opened at $58.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a PE ratio of -36.99, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. Eversource Energy has a 1 year low of $52.71 and a 1 year high of $69.01.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.06 billion. Eversource Energy had a positive return on equity of 10.90% and a negative net margin of 4.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.7525 per share. This is a boost from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.18%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is presently -182.17%.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas.